Coming up this legislative session:

I was asked to make an appearance on the Greg Belfrage show at KELO-AM this morning, and had assembled some notes about what we can expect to come up for session. As is typical, you never have enough time, but my notes are a good rundown of what we might expect in part.

This will be a quiet session in terms of big items. No big asks as we had for teacher pay and roads, so no one anticipating new taxes. Senator Deb Peters called it a “Slow down year” noting revenue is slowing, so spending will as well.

IM22 will dominate talk early in session. Legislators will have to decide between 2 approaches

1. Pulling it apart, removing the objectionable portions, such as the taxpayer funded political campaigns. And,
2. Do nothing, and let the courts kill the entire thing.

I suspect the legislature will put an ethics panel in place, as there is a need for addressing some of the more technical violations, such as not having disclaimers on items, and the type of things that got Annette Bosworth and her husband in trouble.

Bathroom Bill/Trangender Bill -There’s a push on it now in response to last year’ veto, and the promised ballot measure. Not sure who is taking the lead on this, but there’s a question of whether there’s the legislative will to fight that battle. I’ve already heard that some conservative leaders may limit the bill to showers only.

Constitutional Carry Bill – The legal carrying of a handgun, both openly and concealed, without the requirement of a permit is going to possibly one of the sleeper bills that people aren’t paying attention to now, but it’s coming, and stands more than a good chance at passing. I believe Lance Russell will be leading this.

Drug Testing for TANF recipients – It was tried last year, but went down in committee 9-4. It’s a big government solution requiring more employees and more in taxpayer dollars for a problem we don’t have. Liz May is one of the sponsors on this, but, it’s not one that limited government Republicans can support. If someone is arrested for drugs, that’s what the courts are for. We don’t need to set up government bureaucrats to substitute their judgement for a judge’s.

Transfer of nursing home beds – Because nursing bed licenses are limited, allowing the transfer of bed licenses between facilities to better meet needs on a geographic basis is a pretty good idea. And it’s a good free market solution.  Watch for Wayne Steinhauer to be the lead on this.

Intellectual diversity bill – Jim Bolin is bringing back 2006 bill requiring regents to report what’ being done on campuses to promote intellectual diversity. Narrowly defeated back then, but with the climate on campuses with groups protesting and shutting   down conservative speakers, it’s a good time to revisit how we keep discussion open  in South Dakota.

Petition reform – Discussion on petition reform is likely. Too easy for out of state groups to buy their way on the ballot, and as we saw with initiated measure 22, flood the airwaves with propaganda which doesn’t tell the whole story, misleading voters as to what they are getting.  Several, including Don Haggar have expressed a willingness to try to fix this mess, so we’ll see who takes up the cause in the legislature.

I’m hearing Meth is going to play a part in the State of the State today, so watch for something addressing the increasing meth crimes across South Dakota.

And there will be more. Keep watching the SDWC….